


Hollywood Has-been

by erintoknow



Series: Aria-Rough Drafts [8]
Category: Fallen Hero Series - Malin Rydén, Fallen Hero: Rebirth (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, POV Female Character, POV Second Person, Trans Character, Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-08-10 03:48:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20128849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erintoknow/pseuds/erintoknow
Summary: The Los Diablos underground runs on a strange kind of trust. Everybody needs an 'in' if they want to get a slice of the action. So where are you going to find Jane's?





	Hollywood Has-been

Someone’s made a mistake here.

You just hope it wasn’t you.

Jane takes a step backward, it’s not hard to play the part of fearful victim. Her heart is pounding hard enough. You only just had Jane start taking Aikido lessons; still working on getting her in shape, getting used to how her body moves. Mod or boost, maybe you’d be able to take on one guy. But three?

The man in the tanned suit smirks, hands hidden in his pockets. “What’s the matter, chica? Hank here’s just got some questions.” ‘Hank,’ the reedy man in the bomber jacket behind him stares at you but doesn’t say anything. “He’s shy.”

Behind Jane someone grips her shoulder, she looks up to see a pair of sullen eyes under an emo fringe of dyed green hair. The guy that’d been tailing her for the past block after leave Joe’s. Of course.

Do you abandon Jane now and hope you get across town in time or do you play this out, hope you can figure out someway to get Jane out under her own power?

The plan is still nebulous enough that loosing your puppet wouldn’t be the end of the world but still… saving Jane’s life only to get her killed doing your dirty work? Something about that feels deeply wrong.

The hand on Jane’s shoulder digs into her skin. “Answer the question, sunshine.”

Jane balls up her hands into fists. You’re better than this. Better than them. You didn’t survive everything that’s happened just to let three goons threaten Jane and get away with it.

The man in the tanned suit steps closer to Jane. “I _said_, what’s a normie doing in Joe’s, chica?”

Jane takes a deep breath, sneers at him. “None of your business, you Hollywood has-been.”

Jane’s vision fills with stars as tanned suit slaps her across the face. He tuts. “You better start treating me with a bit more respect, sugar, or this is going to be a very, _very_ bad day for you.”

You let a half-strangled sob of fear escape Jane’s lips. Let them think they’ve got her on the backswing. Emo-fringe loosens his grip slightly. ‘Hank’ is going to be the wildcard here but if you time things right….

“You gonna fill me in now, or are we gonna keep doing this?” Tanned suit raises his hand again–

_Now_.

It feels like Deja Vu. You push off to the side, twist, grab, push emo fringe into his friend. The two stagger and you kick at the base of emo fringe’s spine before they can recover. They wobble in a mass of yelling limbs and fall to the ground. You take off running, don’t wait to see what the third guy does. Curses chase after you in the twilight and soon enough you hear the pounding of shoes on cement after you. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.

Calm down. Stay calm. You’re in control. You need to get Jane out of this.

You have Jane make a hard right turn at the intersection without slowing down. Scan the storefronts as you go to get your bearings. Your normally impeccable sense of direction doesn’t seem to extend to Jane.

As if to prove the point, ‘Hank’ steps out of the alleyway in front of you and Jane slides to a halt. “_Fuck_.” Jane’s pursuers are catching up fast behind her. You’re not going to be able to pull the same trick twice.

Hank moves towards you, then there’s a loud ‘thwap’ and he freezes. Jane flinches as he crumbles to the ground. Standing behind him is a woman, shorter than Jane, in cargo pants and a crop top shaking her fist.

“Damn that always smarts.” She grins at Jane. “You okay?”

Jane braces her hands on her knees, catching her breath. “Two more. Heads up.”

Her grin vanishes. “Yeah, I see them. Fucking Billy at it again.” She steps around Hank’s body and past you, hands on her hips. In the streetlight you see the glint of a brass knuckles on one fist. Huh.

“Yo! Billy! What’s the big idea!?”

Jane turns to see the man in the tanned suit and the kid with the emo-fringe pull to a stop a few feet away from Jane’s would-be rescuer. She better know what she’s doing. Jane dusts her self off, takes a few breaths to calm her heart down. It might be necessary to get moving again in a hurry.

The man in the tanned suit (Billy?) narrows his eyes, shoves his hands back into his pockets. “None of your beeswax Rosie. We was just having a friendly chat and the chica got fresh with us for no reason at all.”

“You better leave my girl alone Billy or I’ll punch your shit out just like old times.”

Billy looks between Rosie and Jane, then sneers. “Always knew you were a dyke, Rosie.”

“Just ‘cause I don’t wanna sleep with a dickless wonder like you don’t mean I gotta be gay, Billy.” Rosie widens her stance. “You wanna get your ass whop’d again or you gonna be good and take your buddy home? Must have had too much to drink tonight.”

The four of you stand on the sidewalk but no one makes the first move. Finally Billy relents, taking his hands out of his pockets. “Fine. You win this time Rosie. But only ‘cause you so good lookin’.” He makes a kissing sound with his mouth before waving to his friend. “Com’on, help me get Hank on his feet.”

The two of them walk past Rosie and Jane without sparing a glance in either direction. Jane moves to the side, bracing herself up against the brick wall of a closed hair salon. Keep one eye on Billy and his gang. Try to calm down. Let the adrenaline run down.

Rosie dusts her hands off and watches them stagger off. “Next time I’m kicking all your asses into next week Billy, you hear me?” She dips her head and gives Jane a worried look. “You okay?”

Unclenching her hands, Jane nods. “I– I had it handled.”

“Uh-huh.”

“But thanks.”

“Some of these boys think just living through the boost drug means you can do anything. Idiots.”

Jane looks up at Rosie, gives her a grateful smile. “You’re a vigilante?”

Rosie raises her eyebrows, puts a hand to her chest in mock shock. “Me? Fuck no.” Her smile turns grim. “Fuck society. What has society ever done for me?”

“I know the feeling.” Jane returns the smile.

“Yeah, I saw you trying to get into Joe’s. Not too smart, a normie poking their head in where it doesn’t belong.”

Jane shakes her head, while gears spin in yours. Maybe you can get something out of this night after all. “So if you’re not a vigilante, what do you do?”

“Me?” Rosie at least has the good sense to look sheepish. “Oh, you know. Stuff. Odd jobs. I get around.”

“You looking for work right now?”

That gets her attention. “What kind of work?”

“My…” How do you phrase this? What kind of relationship does Jane have to Ariadne? “My employer is looking to acquire a few things.” Jane waggles a hand. “Kind of… grey market.”

Rosie slips a friendly arm around Jane’s shoulders. “Is that so? Keep talking and maybe I can hook you up with something.”

“Maybe I can buy you a drink? As a thanks for tonight, if nothing else.”

Rosie laughs. “Hell yeah. That’s what I like to hear, girl.”


End file.
